I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 60

The herdsmen’s area was in complete chaos. Because a person had died, everyone living in this sector was in a state of panic. The herdsmen didn’t know the specific details, and their wild speculation had made things worse. Rumors were flying everywhere; stories were being fabricated even before people knew who the deceased was.

Some said he was dismembered by an enemy; some said he was beheaded by a lover; others even claimed that Tengri, the Sky God, was punishing someone with excessive greed.

When Qi Yan heard these, she felt the last possibility was the most likely. After all, this was a script world; deaths caused by ghosts or gods were the most consistent with the logic here.

However, all of this was mere guesswork. The police arrived quickly, cordoning off the scene, questioning relevant personnel, and helping the head of the herdsmen calm the crowd. It was a massive operation that required significant manpower. Among the many officers who arrived was one of Qi Yan’s teammates.

The moment Yin Xin appeared, Qi Yan’s anxious heart steadied slightly. Having a teammate who had been missing and unreachable for two days finally show up unharmed was a true relief.

Furthermore, judging by her current identity, she would likely be a huge help in advancing the plot. She had arrived in the lead car with the criminal investigation captain.

Taking advantage of an inquiry into the case to meet up, Qi Yan asked, “What a coincidence. You’re a police officer here too?”

Yin Xin shook her head, an expression of complicated frustration crossing her face. She replied, “It’s a bit unique. My role isn’t exactly a police officer, but an investigator for the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs. From the name alone, you can tell this is a profession specifically responsible for strange events.”

Qi Yan was stunned. “What… what kind of abnormal events? The kind I’m thinking of?”

“Exactly. Supernatural events,” Yin Xin pointed to the busy officers nearby. “They catch criminals; I catch ghosts.”

“Wait, hold on… let me process this. If they invited you to help, does that mean they’re certain this case involves a ghost killing?”

Yin Xin shook her head again. “Not certain. But there have been some ‘unclean’ things happening lately—very eerie—so an investigator follows every criminal case now.”

“…”

Qi Yan was completely bewildered. Her mind felt like a tangled mess of yarn. She suddenly didn’t know if this script was a “ghost-killing” mystery or a “human-killing” one.

As she fell into a daze, Jiang Miao, staying clear-headed, reminded her: “Regardless of whether it’s a ghost or a human, we just need to protect ourselves and complete the tasks given by the script.”

The script tasks…

When Zhao Ruibin’s death was discovered this morning, the system guide had automatically popped up, issuing the main mission of the script:

[Main Mission: Identify the true killer of the developer Zhao Ruibin within the time limit and uncover the full truth. Note: Each person has only one chance to identify the killer. An incorrect identification results in immediate failure. Failure to identify anyone before the end of the script also results in failure. Players who fail the mission will be ‘cleansed’ by the script. Please think carefully and seriously.]

The difficulty of this main mission was incredibly high. You had to find the killer; getting it wrong or failing to find them meant certain death. Being “cleansed” by the script was essentially a death sentence.

Qi Yan scratched her hair, speechless. “What kind of garbage script makes us solve a murder… what normal person just knows how to solve crimes? Not everyone is a cop!”

To her, this task felt like an impossible mountain to climb—it was simply bullying the players. How could an average person compete with a trained detective in finding a killer? If everyone could solve crimes, real-world police would all be out of a job.

“Don’t panic yet. The guide provides minor tasks for each step. We’ll follow those for now; maybe they’ll lead to more clues,” Jiang Miao looked at Yin Xin. “Isn’t the answer to our task right here?”

After the main mission was issued, the first sub-task appeared in everyone’s system:

[Task 1: Learn the details of Zhao Ruibin’s death from the police and communicate with all persons involved to understand their movements at the time of the crime.]

Since they were teamed up with Yin Xin, the first half of this task was practically done. Yin Xin shared everything currently known about the case.

“Zhao Ruibin died in his own bed inside the yurt. He was sliced completely in half at the waist. The scene was gruesome.”

According to Yin Xin, the bed was soaked in blood. Because he was severed at the waist, his internal organs had spilled out, some even flowing out of the body with the blood… Furthermore, the preliminary forensic report suggested he didn’t die instantly after being cut in half, but lived for a short while…

“It was either shock from the extreme pain or excessive blood loss. In any case, based on my experience as a real-world detective, he died in agony—a level of pain I haven’t seen in over a decade on the force.”

Hearing Yin Xin’s description, Qi Yan mused, “If that’s the case, the killer seems to have a deep hatred for Zhao Ruibin. They likely wanted him to suffer, right? Even if it wasn’t about pain, choosing bisection—a method used in ancient executions—implies a profound grudge.”

Yin Xin looked at her with approval and nodded. “Exactly. Your logic is sound; I thought the same thing.” She joked, “Xiao Qi, after you graduate, why don’t you consider becoming a detective? With your brain, you’d do great things.”

Qi Yan waved her hands hurriedly, embarrassed. “No, no, I won’t go and mess things up for the police force… I don’t know anything; staying in the police force would just be causing trouble for the organization.”

Yin Xin arched an eyebrow and asked an apparently unrelated question: “You’re an art student; you can draw portraits, right?”

“Ah… well, yes…” Qi Yan didn’t react immediately.

Yin Xin smiled. “The police force needs technical talent in all fields. Forensic artists are one of our most scarce types of experts.”

“…”

Oh boy, Yin Xin is actually taking this seriously.

Qi Yan gave a forced laugh. “I really can’t do it. I’ve never even seen a corpse…”

Jiang Miao cut in, “You’ve seen quite a few in the scripts, haven’t you?”

Qi Yan: “…” Way to bring up the one thing I wanted to forget.

Yin Xin smiled and changed the subject. “I have the preliminary autopsy report. The time of death was roughly between 3:00 AM and 3:30 AM.”

Tang Shanshan, who had been listening quietly, suddenly let out an “Ah.” As everyone looked over, she frowned. “Actually, I was awake during that time last night.”

“What?”

The others were shocked. Yin Xin instinctively pressed, “Why were you awake? Did you notice anything unusual?”

Tang Shanshan nodded. “I got up to use the restroom. There was something unusual. It was snowing, and I saw a dark shadow dash past the outside of our tent. I wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination, but I was too scared to let my guard down, so I stayed awake until dawn.”

Jiang Miao recalled how Tang Shanshan had rolled over and fallen into a heavy sleep when she got up in the morning. Only now did she realize the girl had been keeping watch all night.

“You’ve worked hard,” Jiang Miao patted the girl’s head. “Next time something like that happens, wake me up. We’ll keep watch together.”

Being praised, the young girl looked shy and happy. “It’s okay. I was startled by the shadow and wasn’t sleepy anymore. At least one of us needed to be well-rested to handle whatever might happen during the day.”

Her consideration was thorough. The other three, all older than her, looked at her with pride.

“Can you remember the details? How much of that shadow did you see?”

“Um… to be honest, not much. It was just a flash. It was snowing, and the contrast of the snow made the shadow visible. On a normal night, with the weak lighting in this grazing area… it would have been very hard to see.”

Yin Xin thought for a moment. “Later, go back to your tent and show me exactly where you saw the shadow.”

Tang Shanshan nodded repeatedly. “Okay, no problem.”

Next, following the task guide, Yin Xin took them to the crime scene. On the way, she shared more details: “The first witness was the victim’s assistant. He reportedly woke up to a foul, metallic stench. When he saw the state of the victim on the bed, the poor kid was scared out of his wits. He practically lunged out of the tent, tripped into the snow, and crawled away screaming.”

Qi Yan had actually witnessed that part. She tried to recall the scene, frowning. “The snow was so clean…”

Yin Xin looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“When that assistant fell into the snow, it was a vast expanse of white. There wasn’t a single footprint—only the marks he made while crawling out. I don’t know what time the snow stopped last night, but it was too pristine. It was as if… for a long time, no one had approached the main tent where Zhao Ruibin was staying.”

Yin Xin truly admired her now. “Your observation is sharp, and your thinking is clear. Seriously, you are cut out for detective work.”

She was clearly still trying to recruit her.

Qi Yan shook her head again. “I’m only sensitive to visually striking images… The scene I saw this morning had a kind of extreme, tragic beauty.”

Yin Xin: “…” Is this just how artists think?

Talking as they walked, they soon arrived at the crime scene. It was cordoned off. The officer in charge merely nodded to Yin Xin and let her through without questioning her companions.

In the real world, this would never be allowed. Cordoning off a crime scene is vital to prevent the destruction of clues and evidence. But perhaps because this was a script, some things were less rigorous to keep the plot moving.

“The area outside the scene is a mess now, but my records confirm what you said. At the time the crime was discovered, the snow around this tent was perfectly clean, like a vacuum zone. No one had approached it.”

Until the terrified assistant ran out and broke that vacuum.

“What about the murder weapon?” Jiang Miao asked as they entered the tent. The sudden stench of blood was nauseating. “What was used? To cut a man in half, the weapon must have been massive…”

Yin Xin turned around and tilted her head toward the entrance of the yurt.

The eyes of the other three followed her gaze.

That suit of pitch-black heavy armor, dark as ink, stood silently by the door. In its hands was a massive greatsword. The blood flowing down the blade had almost dried, and a large pool of dark red had gathered beneath it, forming a jarring, macabre stain.

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